Flood watch reaches Brockville

The bulk carrier Algoma Harvester heads downriver near dusk in Brockville past a flooded dock on Tuesday. Buell's and Butler's Creeks, as well as the Buell's Creek detention basin and lakes around Lyn and Athens, have been added to a flood watch. (RONALD ZAJAC/The Recorder and Times)jpg, BT

Brockville’s creeks have been added to a Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority (CRCA) Flood Watch, along with bodies of water near Lyn and Athens, while the St. Lawrence river continued to approach 2017 levels.

Both Buell’s and Butler’s Creeks, as well as the Buell’s Creek Detention Basin and the Buell’s Creek Reservoir at the Broome-Runciman Dam, have been added to the Flood Watch list, as well as Lees Pond and Temperance Lake, CRCA officials said Wednesday.

Upper Beverley Lake has been removed from Flood Watch status, the authority added.

“Flooding of low-lying areas around these lakes is a possibility,” CRCA officials stated in a media release.

Earlier this week, the CRCA warned that flooding might occur in low-lying areas around Singleton Lake and Lower Beverley Lake in the Gananoque River watershed, and Colonel By Lake, Cranberry Lake and Sand Lake in the Cataraqui River watershed.

People living in flood-prone or low-lying areas were advised to remove items stored in the floodplains of area watercourses and lakes. The CRCA also urged residents to stay away from dams and fast-flowing watercourses.

The CRCA defines a “Flood Watch” as a situation in which “flooding is possible” in specific watercourses or municipalities.

CRCA officials last week noted the St. Lawrence River at Brockville was approaching 75.3 metres above sea level, which is 0.5 metres below the 100-year level of 75.8 metres in this area along the river.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the level had reached 75.43 metres above sea level.

In 2017, water levels exceeded 75.8 metres and 75.5 metres on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River respectively.